Subscriber exclusive: Interviews paint picture of insurance collection as motive in unsolved Bollinger County murder

The body of Jeffery Scott “Scotty” Robins was discovered by his children when they returned home from school Sept. 6, 2012.

He had been shot in the head while sleeping. The single shot came from a .22-caliber gun.

Bollinger County Coroner Charles Hutchings said he doesn’t know whether the shot came from a handgun or a rifle. The murder weapon has not been found.

Robins was shot from a distance of anywhere from 2 feet to 8 feet, according to Hutchings.

“He never moved. He was dead nearly immediately,” the coroner said the investigation showed.

Hutchings said Robins was shot on the morning of Sept. 6, sometime before 11 a.m.

Investigators, including officers with the Cape Girardeau/Bollinger County Major Case Squad, spent hours investigating the murder and following up leads in the days immediately after the shooting.

The Southeast Missourian reviewed numerous investigative reports provided by Hutchings, who also commented on aspects of the investigation.

Here’s what we learned:

Scotty Robins and his wife, Heather, were going through a divorce at the time of the murder.

Heather Robins was undergoing treatment at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in West Plains, Missouri, at the time of the shooting, investigative reports show.

A house on County Road 834 in Bollinger County is blocked off by crime scene tape Sept. 7, 2012, while the Cape Girardeau/Bollinger County Major Case Squad investigates the death of Jeffery Scott Robins after he was found dead in his rural Bollinger County home the day before.Southeast Missourian file

Timothy Sander, an ex-boyfriend of Heather Robins, told investigators that in July 2012, Heather told him she planned to have someone kill Scotty Robins.

“He stated Heather referred to the person who was supposed to kill Scott Robins as her ‘brother,’” according to a Sept. 10, 2012, investigative report.

Sander “had the impression from past conversations with Heather where she discussed her brother that she was talking about a black male,” the report stated.

“He formed this opinion because she described this brother as wearing baggy clothing with pants sagging, a sideways turned hat and that he listened to loud rap music all the time. Heather was also in contact with several black males during this time,” the report stated.

Sander told investigators a black man named “Jeff” lived near Heather Robins’ apartment in Cape Girardeau.

Hutchings said when he went to the murder scene at the home on County Road 834, he saw a $1 million insurance policy on a desk in Scotty Robins’ living room.

He said Heather may have thought the policy was a life insurance policy. As it turned out, it was a policy protecting his towing business from lawsuits, Hutchings said.

Heather Robins, who was released from the drug and alcohol rehabilitation center after the murder, died Feb. 8, 2016, at her Cape Girardeau residence. The autopsy stated her death resulted from complications from chronic alcohol abuse, Hutchings said.

While not admissible in court, Heather Robins and Jeff Harker, an acquaintance of Heather’s, failed polygraph tests, Hutchings said.

Hank Baker, a friend of both Scotty and Heather Robins, said the homicide victim never locked the doors to his house during the daytime, according to an investigative report dated Sept. 10, 2012.

Baker, who was living in Jackson, told investigators after Heather Robins failed a polygraph test he wondered whether she “had some knowledge” of the shooting of her estranged husband.

Sara Cooper told investigators her boyfriend, Jeff Harker, was friends with Nick Accardo. Cooper said Heather Robins was her neighbor.

Phillip Swift, who was living in Cape Girardeau, told investigators four days after the murder, Harker, who he described as his best friend, said he “might be in a lot of trouble,” according to an investigative report.

Harker stated he “dropped Nick off to do his thing” and it “turned out good,” Swift told investigators.

According to investigators, Swift said Harker was hiding his “guns and dope” at another location in Cape Girardeau.

Swift told investigators Cooper often loaned her red Toyota in exchange for drugs or money.

One investigative report states a confidential informant said Cooper told Swift that Accardo was the shooter.

Several people interviewed said they had seen a Hispanic man and a black man in a red Toyota near the vicinity of the murder.

Jean Harker, who was married to Jeff Harker at the time, told investigators her husband and Accardo were good friends who both had a “bad drug problem.”

According to investigators, Jeff Harker denied any involvement in the murder.

Hutchings said both Harker and Accardo have criminal records, including some violent offenses.

Harker subsequently was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty in an assault case. Harker is now on parole, according to Missouri Department of Corrections online records.

On Sept. 11, 2012, five days after the murder, investigators interviewed Accardo, who gave a Jackson address.

“Mr. Accardo started the interview by stating he did not want anyone to be hurt and at this point Mr. Accardo began to cry,” according to the investigative report.

Accardo said he knew Cooper and Harker. He denied any involvement in the murder.

At one point during the interview, Accardo said, “I don’t want to kill anyone anymore,” investigators wrote.

When confronted about the statement, he said he “misspoke,” according to the report.

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